Known for his work with Butthole Surfers and The Melvins, JD Pinkus, recently announced the release of his new LP, Grow A Pear, due June 7th via Shimmy-Disc records. This is the follow up to his 2021 LP, Fungus Shui. Pinkus has also shared the record’s first single, “Charmer,” accompanied by an experimental video by cinematographer, Courtney Sell. Head into the article below to watch the new video and find out more.
Pre-order Grow A Pear here: https://jdpinkus.bandcamp.com/album/grow-a-pear
Says JD about “Charmer”, “This one was written for snakes of all kinds, but mainly my friendly rattle snake buddy, Fred. My friend, Jed Willis, helped me out with his sci-fi pedal steel and Film Maker, Courtney Sell, made this nice hypnotic video for it, to capture this instrumental with his organic visuals.”
Speaking on the record, Pinkus said, “Grow A Pear has been in the works for 5 years. What started as my contributions for the ‘new’ Butthole Surfers’ album that was not to be‚ turned into a solo album I recorded with contributions from some of my favorite flavor players to create an album that most represents where I came from and bridges to where I’m at right now. My wishes for the future, is that everyone in the world will finally Grow A Pear”
He continued, “A ‘Pear’ of albums on one vinyl‚ a combo of heavy psychedelia, drum and bass grooves, bouncy boogie, catchy tunes, and sprinkles of tastee horns, keys and strings thrown in‚ kinda like a thumb over the genre-hose nozzle, something for everyone and nothing for someone‚ guaranteed!”
Grow A Pear tracklisting:
Side Rotten:
01 Heaven As Fuck
02 Rejoice Unto Yourself
03 11:11
04 16 Hands High
05 Charmer
06 Mohair Glasses
Side Ripe:
07 If I Could Read My Mind
08 Ooglin
09 Lemme Try Again
10 I Would Like To Pet it
11 BB’s Cowboy Spice
12 Baby Back
Produced by JD Pinkus
Mixed by Pinkus & Kramer
Mastered by Kramer
Pinkus is hitting the road late this summer as support for Melvins leader King Buzzo (Buzz Osborne) and Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn‘s co-headlining tour.
JD Pinkus live:
August 1 Pioneertown, CA Pappy + Harriet’s
August 2 San Diego, CA Casbah
August 3 Long Beach, CA Alex’s Bar
August 5 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
August 6 San Francisco, CA The Chapel
August 7 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s
August 9 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
August 10 Seattle, WA Neumos
August 11 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Spokane
August 12 Bozeman, MT The ELM
August 14 Salt Lake CITY, UT Urban Lounge
August 16 Fort Collins, CO Aggie Theatre
August 17 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
August 19 Omaha, NE Slowdown
August 20 Saint Paul, MN Turf Club
August 21 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
August 22 Chicago, IL Subterranean
August 23 St. Louis, MO Old Rock House
August 24 Louisville, KY Headliners Music Hall
August 26 Grand Rapids, MI The Pyramid Scheme
August 27 Detroit, MI The Shelter
August 28 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop
August 29 Columbus, OH The Basement
August 30 Bethlehem, PA Musikfest Café at the ArtsQuest Center
August 31 Pittsburgh, PA Thunderbird Music Hall
September 1 Jersey City, NJ White Eagle Hall
September 3 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
September 4 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
September 5 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom
September 6 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
September 7 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts
September 9 Charlottesville, VA The Southern Café & Music Hall
September 10 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle – Back Room
September 11 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre
September 12 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club
September 13 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade – Hell Stage
September 14 Nashville, TN Exit In
September 16 Birmingham, AL Saturn
September 17 New Orleans, LA Siberia
September 18 Baton Rouge, LA Varsity Theatre
September 20 Houston, TX House of Blues – Bronze Peacock
September 21 Austin, TX Antone’s
September 22 Dallas, TX House of Blues – Cambridge Room
September 25 Tucson, AZ 191 Toole
September 26 Phoenix, AZ The Rebel Lounge
More from JD Pinkus:
Jeff ‘JD’ Pinkus is an American bassist best known for his work with American punk band Butthole Surfers from 1985 to 1994 and since the 2009 reunion. In 1990, he and Butthole Surfers’ lead vocalist Gibby Haynes released Digital Dump, the only album from their psychedelic house music side project The Jackofficers. Upon leaving Butthole Surfers, Pinkus worked full-time with the Austin trio Daddy Longhead, which he had assembled during his waning months in the band, and which included longtime Atlanta associate Jimbo Young on guitar and Rey Washam on drums. Daddy Longhead retired after 10 years, leaving Pinkus free to explore other projects including Skinny Leonard and Areola 51. Pinkus played with Helios Creed on his albums NUGG: The Transport [1996] and Activated Condition [1998], and has also collaborated with Bad Livers frontman Danny Barnes several times in a live setting. JD Pinkus then co-founded the band Honky who went on to record five albums and are still currently active. Pinkus also performs with Pure Luck, who released a self-titled release in 2017 on Heavy Feather Records. He leaves his bass to play Banjo and Guitar in this project.
On their 30th anniversary tour in 2013, Pinkus joined the Melvins in place of Jared Warren (on paternity leave) as well as performing with the opening Honky. He subsequently joined the Melvins full-time, touring with them in 2014 in support of the album Hold It In, which also featured Butthole Surfers founder Paul Leary, and again in 2015. He also plays on the song “Captain Come Down” which was first released in 2015 on Chaos as Usual, a split release with Le Butcherettes, and later included on the 2016 album Basses Loaded. In 2018, JD Pinkus released a solo album, Keep on the Grass on cassette tape on Danny Barnes’ Minner Bucket Records and later Vinyl and Compact Disc through Heavy Feather Records. It was recorded entirely on banjo and features a rendition of the song “Bride of Crankenstein” from the Melvins album Hold It In. The Keep on the Grass album release show was with Sleep in San Pedro on September 15th 2018.
On February 12, 2018, the Melvins announced that Pinkus would be joining them, alongside current bassist Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), on their next album and subsequent tour. Released on April 20, 2018, the aptly titled Pinkus Abortion Technician features both bass players and four songs written or co-written by Pinkus. In May of 2021 JD Pinkus and Daddy Longhead released another album titled Twinkle which was originally recorded but not distributed in 1998.
JD Pinkus released his second solo “space grass” banjo album titled Fungus Shui. The album was written, recorded, and mixed by Pinkus himself at Plastic Cannon Studio in Asheville, North Carolina. The album was mastered by Kramer. JD continued his foray into Space-grass territories in his 2023 collaboration with Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) on the savagely brilliant Ponder Machine LP, released on Shimmy-Disc June 30, 2023, as (SHIMMY-2018)
Lineup:
JD Pinkus – Vox, Bass, Banjo, Drums
Jed Willis – Pedal Steel
Follow JD Pinkus:
https://www.facebook.com/JDPinkus
https://www.jdpinkus.com/
https://on.soundcloud.com/UHcQi
https://jdpinkus.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/jd_pinkus/